Vernon Hills' Cuneo Museum chronicled in new book

John B. Byrne says it seems like fate that he would author a book about the Cuneo Museum and Gardens.

His family has a nearly 100-year association to the 32-room Vernon Hills mansion. He's worked for the Cuneo family for more than 30 years and still lives in a house on the property.

The life and history of the 31,000-square-foot Italian-style villa is the subject of a new book written by Byrne that will be published at the end of the month.

The operations manager for the museum, Byrne was contacted by the publisher last summer.

"This was a natural for me," he said.

South Carolina-based Arcadia Publishing has more than 5,000 titles in its popular "Images of America" series. The books chronicle the history of towns, villages and cities across the nation.

Byrne's book is packed with more than 200 historical photographs tracing the history of the manor from when it was built by utility baron Samuel Insull in 1914 to the years the Cuneos occupied the estate.

For Byrne, it was more than just collecting interesting facts about the place. His family has connections to it going back to 1915. His great uncle Lawrence Byrne emigrated from Ireland and found work as a groundskeeper for the Insulls. Byrne's grandfather John also worked there in the early 1920s. And, by chance, his father got a job at Cuneo Press in 1950. As part of his compensation package, Cuneo set him up in a home on the property. Byrne himself has worked for the Cuneos for more than 30 years.

After Insull's fortunes collapsed in the Great Depression, the estate was purchased by John Cuneo Sr. in 1937. He made his fortune in the printing business and also operated the Hawthorn Mellody Dairy. It's all chronicled in the black and white pictures.

Byrne estimates he spent more than 200 hours gathering the material for and writing the 127-page book.

"I really enjoyed the process," he said. He gathered the photos from the Cuneo Museum archive and also from the Chicago History Museum, Loyola University and Lake Forest College.

Most of the upfront costs of producing the book are paid by the publisher. Byrne said any royalties he receives will be paltry.

"I'm not going to rich off this one," he said with a smile.

The book will hit the shelves on Jan. 26.

"This is a great benefit to the museum," Byrne said, "and hopefully it will spark a new interest in people to visit."